Stifel Nicolaus Downgrading Rent-A-Center

Stifel Nicolaus is out with a research report on Rent-A-Center, Inc.

and is downgrading shares to Hold from Buy after it reported earnings. In a note to clients, Stifel Nicolaus writes, "We are lowering our rating from Buy to Hold following this release. Traffic was an issue early in 1Q before the company used promotions to attract new contracts at quarter end. While the release didn't provide much color on the subject, we suspect that traffic issue lingered into 2Q as the core rentals and fees business results were disappointing." Shares of RCII are down $1.94 to $27.99 in pre-market trading.